China launches high tech aircraft carrier
Beijing launched a new-generation aircraft carrier yesterday, the first such ship to be both designed and built in China, in a milestone as it seeks to extend the range and power of its navy.
The Type 003 carrier christened Fujian left its drydock at a shipyard outside Shanghai and tied up at a nearby pier, state media reports said.
State broadcaster CCTV showed assembled navy personnel standing beneath the massive ship as water jets sprayed over its deck and multicolored streamers flew and colourful smoke was released.
Equipped with the latest weaponry and aircraft-launch technology, the Type 003 ship’s capabilities are thought to rival those of Western carriers, as Beijing seeks to turn its navy — already the world’s largest — into a multi-carrier force.
Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs PBC and analysed by The Associated Press showed the carrier in what appeared to be a fully flooded drydock at the Jiangnan Shipyard, near Shanghai, ready for launch.
It was draped with red bunting, presumably in preparation for the launch ceremony.
“This is an important milestone for China’s military-industrial complex,” said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst with the defence intelligence company Janes.
“This shows that Chinese engineers are now able to indigenously manufacture the full suite of surface combatants associated with modern naval warfare, including corvettes, frigates, destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and now an aircraft carrier,” he said.
“This ability to construct a very complex warship from the ground up will inevitably result in various spinoffs and benefits for Chinese shipbuilding industry.”
China’s first carrier was a repurposed Soviet ship, and its second was built in China but based upon a Soviet design.
Both were built to employ a socalled “ski-jump” launch method for aircraft, with a ramp at the end of the short runway to help planes take off.
The Type 003 employs a catapult launch, thought to be an electromagnetic-type system like one originally developed by the US Navy.
Such a system puts less stress on the aircraft than older steam-type catapult launch systems, and the use of a catapult means that the ship will be able to launch a broader variety of aircraft, which is necessary for China to be able to project naval power at a greater range, Rahmat said.
China’s People Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, has been modernising for more than a decade to become more of a “blue water” force — one capable of operating globally rather than being restricted to remaining closer to the Chinese mainland.
At the same time, the US has been increasing its focus on the region, including the South China Sea.
The vast maritime region has been tense because six governments claim all or part of the strategically vital waterway, through which an estimated US$5 trillion ($7.8t) in global trade travels each year and which holds rich but fast-declining fishing stocks and significant undersea oil and gas deposits.
China has been far and away the most aggressive in asserting its claim to virtually the entire waterway, its island features and resources.
The US Navy has sailed warships past artificial islands China has built in the sea that are equipped with airstrips and other military facilities.
China insists its territory extends to those islands, while the US Navy says it conducts the missions there to ensure the free flow of international trade.
In recent years, China has expanded its presence into the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and beyond, setting up its first overseas base over the last decade in the African Horn nation of Djibouti, where the US, Japan and others also maintain a military presence.
It has recently signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands that many fear could give it an outpost in the South Pacific, and is working with Cambodia on expanding a port facility there that could give it a presence in the Gulf of Thailand.